The January 2010 earthquake devastated the people of Haiti and illuminated an issue that has been ignored for far too long – the ongoing degradation of the country’s natural environment. While short-term relief efforts were essential, drastic, sustainable changes to restore tree cover and agricultural production remain critical for the future of Haiti. A model for sustainable development, the Haiti Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA) is the culmination of a $1 million, five- year, innovative public/private partnership led by Timberland.

The Issue: Rebuilding amidst deforestation and unreliable farming techniques
Haiti is one of the most severely deforested countries in the world, with an estimated 1.5 percent tree cover. Deforestation is driven by many factors, including dependency on wood for cooking charcoal, rapid population growth and unreliable agricultural practices, and contributes to the severity of food insecurity, flooding and erosion. The opportunity exists to create a sustainable, long-term solution that empowers Haitians to play an active role in spurring economic development, improving agricultural practices, and supporting reforestation and environmental restoration.

The Solution: Haitians take ownership of increasing local food production and help combat deforestation
Small-scale farming is the main source of income for two-thirds of Haiti’s working population. Timberland partnered with Timote Georges and Hugh Locke, co- founders of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA), to develop a sustainable agroforestry business model run by local smallholder farmers that would be self- financed within five years. The farmers voluntarily tend to a network of tree nurseries that annually produce one million trees. In return, the farmers receive training, crop seeds, trees and tools that collectively help restore tree cover and increase crop yields.

The Impact: 3,200 Haitian farmer members, five million trees, increased production of cash crops, and a sustainable economic development model
Timberland and SFA, with the help of various partners, created a self-sustaining, replicable agroforestry business model that demonstrates the best of social entrepreneurism at work. The model has helped 3,200 farmers increase the productivity on their farmlands up to 50 percent depending on the crop, resulting in
the increase in household income of SFA farmers between 30 and 50 percent. Other outcomes have included increased access to education and healthcare for farmers’ families, and recently the early development of an export model for lime and “superfood” moringa.

Looking Ahead: Supply chain innovations and social entrepreneurism
Timberland hopes to replicate this private/public model in other areas of its footwear and apparel supply chains, investigating opportunities to scale to cotton and rubber plantation farming in other developing countries.

Documenting the Journey: Sharing the success
Scheduled for release in October 2015, KOMBIT: The Cooperative, chronicles Timberland’s and SFA’s journey to rebuild Haiti. Timberland and SFA, in partnership with award-winning filmmakers Gabriel London and Charlie Sadoff of Found Object, have been documenting the project since 2010.

]]>http://responsibility.timberland.com/service/timberland-celebrates-earth-day-worldwide-2/feed/0Timberland Celebrates Earth Day Worldwidehttp://responsibility.timberland.com/service/timberland-celebrates-earth-day-worldwide/
http://responsibility.timberland.com/service/timberland-celebrates-earth-day-worldwide/#commentsWed, 22 Apr 2015 17:11:28 +0000interactivedevhttp://responsibility.timberland.com/?p=3302While Earth Day is celebrated in different ways around the world, Timberland employees recognize the day in their own unique way by pulling on their boots to make a difference. This spring, in celebration of Earth Day, approximately 1,800 Timberland employees, business partners, and consumers from around the world will serve close to 13,000 hours at more than 60 community service projects in 20 countries.

From our home base in Stratham, New Hampshire to Zhuhai, China, employees will serve at a variety of projects to enhance green spaces in their local communities. Projects will occur from April 15 – May 30 and global highlights include:

Stabio, Switzerland: For Earth Day 2015, the Timberland European headquarters team in Stabio, Ticino, will partner with the municipality of Lugano and Lugano Turismo in their efforts to preserve outdoor areas that play important roles in the local cultural landscape.

Malaysia: On April 15th, 40 employees and 15 guests partnered with the Global Environment Center to collect over 330kg of trash and plant 150 trees to protect the Bamboo River (Sungai Buluh).

New Hampshire: Timberland headquarters will host six projects throughout the New England Seacoast, focused on creating and developing green spaces and other environmental initiatives.

New York: Timberland’s North America sales team will join forces with a range of business partners at Coney Island to help revitalize a run-down 70,000 square foot pumping station into usable green farm space.

Last year on Earth Day, we reached a historic milestone when employees served their one millionth hour since the company introduced its Path of Service™ program in 1992. Created to infuse volunteerism into our company culture, the Path of Service™ program provides employees up to 40 paid hours each year to serve in their communities. Every year Timberland organizes two global service events: in spring, we focus its efforts on environmental needs around Earth Day; in fall, we host our annual Serv-a-palooza event, which focuses on community-based needs. 2015 marks Timberland’s 17th annual Earth Day service celebration.

Earth Day is a particularly welcome event for employees in New Hampshire, where harsh winters can take their toll. Earth Day at Timberland’s Stratham headquarters was delayed until May 14th this year to allow the ground more time to thaw. As employee service champion Jill Holt said, “Earth Day is one of my favorite events because it celebrates service and the arrival of spring – two of my favorite things. There’s nothing like getting outside with your team and making such a visible difference through service.”

2013 data includes Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers for Timberland branded footwear and Timberland branded, non-licensed apparel. This includes textile mills, dye houses, and locally sourced sundries suppliers, which were not included in our historical data sets. 2013 data does not include Tier 2 suppliers for Licensee and Distributor products. Historical data includes all suppliers for finished goods in Timberland’s footwear, apparel, accessories and licensed product categories, as well as tanneries and global contract suppliers.

Global

Note: Global results are calculated based on all audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that are dropped.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

United States

In 2013, no audits were missed in this region.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

N. Africa & Middle East

In 2013, no audits were missed in this region.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

Europe

In 2013, no audits were missed in this region.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

China

In 2013, 2 factories were used that had been dropped in 2012. At the end of 2013, the business units reported production had taken place in 2013.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

Southeast Asia

In 2013, no audits were missed in this region.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

Mexico, Central America & Caribbean

In 2013, no audits were missed in this region.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

Argentina

In 2013, 1 distributor factory was dropped before an audit could be conducted.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

Sub-Saharan Africa

In 2013, no audits were missed in this region.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

India

In 2013, no audits were missed in this region.

Note: Regional results are calculated based on the most recent physical audits that took place in 2013, including follow up audits and factories that may have been dropped.

More than 1,500 Volunteers Around the Globe Come Together to Serve their Local Communities

Timberland employees love the fall. Not only do we get to wear our favorite Timberland boots, we get to pull them on to make a difference at our annual fall celebration of service called Serv-a-palooza. This year we are celebrating our 17th annual Serv-a-palooza at which employees and guests around the globe come together to serve their communities. The daylong celebration provides Timberland employees worldwide with the opportunity to impact the community, build teamwork and engage stakeholders in Timberland’s ethic of service.

“Even in its 17th year, Serv-a-palooza remains one of our most beloved community service events,” said Atlanta, McIlwraith, senior manager of community engagement for Timberland. “Serv-a-palooza represents an opportunity for us to reconnect with our neighbors and provide them with much needed resources that will support their community growth for years to come. It is our continued hope that our unwavering commitment to service will inspire others to spread the positive impact throughout their own communities around the world.”

Across North America, Europe and Asia, Timberland is hosting Serv-a-palooza projects in more than 50 locations, across 15 international markets with some 12,000 hours of service performed by 1,500+ volunteers in September and October. Some events include:

Building a library for a local Primary School that has limited resources in Malaysia

Cleaning up a coastal beach in Taiwan

Reconstructing a homeless shelter for children in the Dominican Republic

Planting 1,200 trees in Italy to create an urban park

Renovating a shelter in the United Kingdom

As part of the Path of Service™ program, which provides full-time employees up to 40 paid volunteer hours per year, Timberland organizes two global service events each year. The annual Spring event, Earth Day, focuses on Timberland’s commitment to serving the environment, while Serv-a-palooza in the Fall, focuses on serving communities in need. During this year’s Earth Day celebration, Timberland employees surpassed a major milestone of having served over one million hours. Serv-a-palooza will gets us underway in serving our next million hours.

At our brand headquarters in Stratham, NH more than 360 employees and guests served more than 2,900 hours at seven community building projects in nearby Lawrence, MA. Service projects included running our signature “Leave Your Footprint” fair at a school serving kids in need. At the fair, students received a new pair of Timberland shoes, chose a book for themselves and one to donate to someone else, and learned about the value of recycling. Other projects included running a job readiness fair and employer expo to support unemployed job seekers in finding work, providing a facilities makeover and a new garden to a homeless shelter and more.

At the end of the service day, Timberland volunteers from different sites convened for a community block party in the common opposite Lawrence City Hall. Mayor Dan Rivera and other community members joined the celebration to thank the volunteers for the service.

Timberland Stratham employee and first time Serv-a-palooza project director Chris Reynolds said: “everything about this Serv-a-palooza was incredible –from partnering with the community, witnessing how engaged and inspired our volunteers were throughout the day, and seeing our impact – the whole experience was rewarding and unforgettable.”

From 2012 to 2014, Timberland adopted the framework and scoring methodology of Social Accountability International (“SAI”)’s Social Fingerprint® program for our assessments of factories’ social performance. In 2015, we will be transitioning to the Sustainable Apparel Coalition’s (“SAC”) Higg Index, through our parent company, VF Corporation’s Sustainable Operations Program.

Please note that the focus of VF’s Sustainable Operations Team is with those suppliers representing the majority of our business – our direct sourced footwear and apparel suppliers, which represent approximately 80% of our global production volumes. 2015 will be the base year for establishing new targets as we implement Higg with our strategic suppliers.

Timberland was acquired by the VF Corporation (“VF”)in 2011, at which time our Code of Conduct was replaced by VF’s Terms of Engagement and Global Compliance Principles. In January 2012, Timberland adopted VF Corporation’s factory auditing ratings, and VF compliance staff began assessing Timberland suppliers. See the Compliance page for more details on VF’s auditing process and compliance requirements.

As a result of these changes, Timberland has adjusted our Factories metrics to align with VF’s auditing procedures. To our best ability, we have mapped our prior assessment scoring systems to VF’s audit ratings (see Global Factory Conditions for details). The new ratings are not directly comparable to our historical information. Click here to view historical results for 2010-2011 Responsible Sourcing.

Supplier Selection Defined:

We expect our sourcing managers to select new suppliers with social compliance being one element of their vendor selection pre-screening process. Such pre-screening is accomplished by having suppliers provide evidence of their social compliance performance by way of recent audits by other brands, external monitoring firms,or social certificates, such as WRAP or SA8000.

Factories that receive Rejected or Accepted to be Upgraded-Pending Rejection (“ATBU-Pending Rejection”) scores in VF’s audits do not have basic levels of compliance. For factories that are ATBU-Pending Rejection (that are still being considered for production), Timberland’s Supplier Sustainability Team (“SST”)works to address critical issues before re-audit in 3 months. If no improvement occurs after a 3 month period, these factories will be downgraded to Rejected.

2014 Result: Of the 79 new Tier 1 suppliers selected in 2014, 20 (25%) were rated Accepted, 47 (60%) were rated ATBU, and 12 (15%) were rated either Pending Rejected (6) or Rejected (6). Of these 12 factories, 6 were dropped, 1 was re-audited and received a rating of ATBU, and the other 5 are working on their Corrective Action Plans to prepare for re-audit. No new orders will be placed in a Rejected factory until re-audit occurs and a favorable rating is attained.

We are pleased to have well-exceeded our target of 34.5% or fewer factories scoring Rejected or ATBU-Pending Rejection. This can be attributed to our sourcing groups making better choices for new supplier selection and business units choosing factories that have already been approved by VF for other brands. The Supplier Sustainability Team has also played an important role by performing pre-audits at factories that have not been audited by other brands in the past, doing follow up audits to assist factories in completing their CAPs, and helping factories prepare for their re-audit.

Number of Factories

Timberland believes, along with others in our industry, that factory disclosure and collaboration can create common standards and shared solutions – helping to advance global human rights in all of our factories. For this reason, we disclose our factories on a quarterly basis. See the most recent factory list here.

Although our supply chain sources may change from time to time, our quarterly factory disclosure represents our best attempt to disclose all of Timberland’s active factories as of that date. See the Report Archive for additional quarterly disclosures of our factories.